Spring has sprung, the grass is green(ish), and the air is full of birdsong and…what’s that? Oh yeah, the almost constant hum of Royal Wedding coverage. I have no opinion, really, about the monarchy, but I do enjoy a little princely entertainment now and then. Not so much the younger generation (sorry Wills & Kate), but those great English Kings and Queens of yore: Colin Firth, Jonathan Rhys Myers, and of course, our current monarch, Helen Mirren. I’ll keep this post short as I am off to bed in the somewhat futile hope that a sleep surplus will help me get up at 3:00 a.m. Friday morning to watch the Show. Please enjoy these crowning moments from Royal Web~

On April 26th, Google celebrated the birthday ofJohn James Audubon with a Google doodle. Oh no. Now everyone will know about him. Happy Birthday Mr Birdman, your illustrations are gobsmackingly gorgeous! Other than his ubiquitous collections of art (and field guides), may I recommend a couple of novels~Creation by Katherine Govier (Random House), about his rather harrowing adventures in Labrador, Canada, and a new children’s book, which I’ve yet to read but looks very promising~Okay For Nowby Gary D Schmidt (Clarion). Maybe this Audubon-related book will usher in a new cultural obsession~birds. Beats vampires (but not zombies, nothing beats zombies.)

Check out this BEAUTIFUL animated short called Old Fangs by Adrien Merigeau. Thanks to Sandy for sending it my way…

For a little post-Easter fun, the worst ever Easter Bunnies. The Cakehead Loves Evil website has many more enjoyably odd posts. Highly addictive, just like Easter bunnies…of the fruit n’ nut variety.

From the New York Times, Shaun Tan’s Wild Imagination. I would say Mr Tan has few peers in the area of imagination, wild or otherwise.

From the Life in Pictures series in The Guardian, the beautiful Angela Barrett picture gallery.

Lastly, though this is not art-related per se, have a listen to this incredible speech from a recent Ted Talk by Roger Ebert, one of my favourite dudes. Thanks to Crayon Creative for tweeting this king’s speech!

As usual so many good things to go through! We have The Boy Who Drew Birds
by Jacqueline Davies, illustrated by Melissa Sweet, a picture book bio of Audubon which is quite good.At an auction several years ago I picked up several Audubon prints. At the time I didn’t know what they were (in my defence I don’t htink Audubon is well known by the general UK public), I just loved the illustrations. I had a funny experience when one day I say one of the prints in a museum. Uh oh I thought. I’m sure the ones we’ve got are cheap copies, but we like to pretend to ourselves that they are our secret nest egg!

Gary Schmidt’s newest book you mention, Okay For Now, is fantastic. I think it’s his best since Lizzie Bright, which I loved. Doug Swieteck is a great character–very real, very memorable. Get your hands on a copy as soon as you can!